After two years on the sidelines, the mammoth Martin Mars water bomber could soon be heading back into the skies.

The B.C. government is working on a deal to have the world-famous firefighting tool put on standby, Forests Minister Steve Thomson revealed Monday.

“I know that it’s an iconic resource,” Thomson told reporters. “There are lots of challenges with that resource. It’s not the most cost-effective and it can only be used in very strategic situations. What I can say today is that we are in discussions with the owner of the Mars to see if something can be worked out as needed.”

Coulson Flying Tankers, the company that owns the Mars bomber, told CTV News it’s provided the province with all the necessary information and will have the plane ready if a deal is reached.

With about 180 wildfires burning in B.C., pressure has been mounting to bring back the iconic bomber, which was converted from a World War II Allied aircraft and is capable of carrying 27,000 litres of water.

A Change.org petition was started two days ago demanding Premier Christy Clark return the Mars to service, and was signed nearly 17,500 times by Monday afternoon.

“Our province is burning and these are the best planes for the job,” it reads. “Do the right thing! Listen to the people.”

A similar petition created last year gathered more than 19,000 signatures, but was never acted upon.

Adding fuel to the fire was a picture that emerged on social media this week appearing to show the Martin Mars parked in Port Alberni with the raging Dog Mountain blaze in the background.

That fire has already spread to about 96 hectares and destroyed one uninhabited cabin at Sproat Lake, while forcing the evacuation of about 20 others.

The B.C. government grounded the Hawaii Mars, the last Martin Mars aircraft in operation, in 2013 and started using smaller skimmers it said are cheaper and more efficient.

Keeping the Mars on standby used to cost the province about $670,000 per season, on top of a $4,000 per hour rate while it was in use, according to the Ministry of Forests. It was also only deployed to 20 wildfires between 2007 and 2013.

The four replacement Fire Boss skimmers, which carry about 3,000 litres of water each, are contracted for $2.5 million per season plus a combined hourly use rate of $2,000.

Comparing the performance of the Mars in Kelowna in 2003 and the Fire Bosses in West Kelowna in 2014, the government found the bomber dropped 690,000 litres of water over 28 hours at a cost of 63 cents per litre, while the skimmers delivered 586,000 litres over 11 hours at a cost of 23 cents per litre.

For context, the province has already spent more than $80 million fighting wildfires this year, and spent about $122 million total the last year the Mars was in service.